CHAP 4 — Oliver Blackwood
Oliver Blackwood looked exactly like I remembered.
Older, sharper, more expensive, but the same cold intelligence sat behind his eyes. The same smile that never reached the part of him where kindness should have lived.
He recognized me after a few seconds.
“Alice Kensington,” he said. “Danielle’s unstable roommate.”
I almost laughed.
Twelve years, and he had kept the same script ready.
“Hello, Oliver.”
His eyes flicked toward the bed.
“Toby, we’re going home.”
Toby shrank behind me.
“No.”
Oliver’s face did not change, but something dangerous moved beneath it.
“He’s confused. He has a concussion.”
Dr. Harlan stepped forward.
“He is alert and oriented.”
Oliver ignored him.
“I’m his legal guardian.”
Mr. Hale glanced at the document in my hand.
“That may not be accurate pending verification.”
Oliver turned on him.
“I have attorneys for verification.”
Nurse Brenda moved closer to Toby’s bed.
I pulled out my phone and called the number printed at the bottom of Danielle’s guardianship document.
A woman answered on the first ring.
“This is Marianne Wells.”
“My name is Alice Kensington. I’m at Riverside General with Toby Blackwood.”
There was one second of silence.
Then Marianne said, “Do not let Oliver take him.”
I put her on speaker.
Oliver’s mouth tightened.
Marianne’s voice filled the room.
“I am Danielle Blackwood’s attorney. I hold the executed guardianship nomination, estate documents, and sealed statement regarding threats made by Oliver Blackwood. I am already filing emergency guardianship and protective orders.”
Oliver stepped toward me.
“That document is meaningless.”
Toby whispered, “He said Mom would sound crazy if she told.”
The room froze.
Oliver’s head snapped toward him.
“What did you say?”
I turned slightly, shielding Toby with my body.
Marianne said sharply, “Mr. Blackwood, leave that child alone.”
Oliver smiled then.
A small, vile smile.
“You have no idea what Danielle was like near the end. Paranoid. Dramatic. Filling a boy’s head with fantasies.”
Toby began shaking.
I looked at him.
“Tell me one thing, Toby. Did someone hurt your mom’s car?”
His eyes filled with terror.
“Black truck,” he whispered. “It followed us. Mom said don’t look back.”
Oliver’s expression hardened.
Dr. Harlan looked at Brenda.
Brenda quietly pressed a security button.
Oliver noticed.
“You’re making a mistake.”
“No,” I said. “I made one twelve years ago when I let you isolate her.”
His jaw clenched.
“You were always jealous of her.”
I stepped closer.
“I was twenty years old. You were a grown man forging messages to separate two girls because one of them saw your rot.”
For the first time, Oliver’s mask cracked.
Only slightly.
Enough.
Security arrived before he could move again.
Oliver lifted both hands, smiling at the guards.
“This is a family matter.”
Toby whispered behind me, “He always says that before people stop helping.”
That sentence turned every face in the room toward Oliver.
The guard said, “Sir, step into the hallway.”
Oliver looked at me one last time.
“You cannot protect him from me.”
May you like
I clasped Toby’s hand.
“Watch me.”
